Collision
by chronosthirteen
Summary: When Mayor Thomas made the mistake of forgetting to take the farm off the market, Jack realised that he had only seven days to convince Claire to take the next ferry back to the city. Madness and stupidity ensue. JackxClaire with several other side pairings thrown into the mix. Rating subject to change.


Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon: More/Friends of Mineral Town

Chapter-I

Collision

It was exactly five in the evening, according to her watch.

The first day of the new year and here she was, tired, hungry and sea-sick, staring out at a desolate farm that she'd spent almost all of her savings on. It was an act of impulse and boredom at her monotonous routine. This was supposed to be her big break - her escape from the tenuous city life. Everything she owned was stuffed and stacked neatly inside a couple of suitcases beside her, and she was starting to regret her hasty decision to move out of the city.

The 'farm' she bought looked nothing of the sort. Sure, it was a huge plot of land with some barn houses and such, but it was an utter and complete dump. It looked more like the summer home of a hurricane. Everywhere she looked it was branches and weeds and huge rocks and the occasional furry animal scurrying for food. And to make matters worse, it looked like it was about to rain soon.

"Dammit..." she muttered to herself, helplessly staring out at her newly acquired property.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Where was the beautiful lush green lively farm that she'd envisioned? Where was the cute dog and the little pony? And most importantly, where the hell was she supposed to sleep? She was new to farm life but she was pretty sure she wasn't supposed to sleep in a barn.

Looking around her she almost immediately saw a small house standing close to the entrance of the farm. Taking in a deep breath, she gathered her resolve and started towards it, dragging her worn out suitcases behind her in the frost covered earth. It was still quite chilly outside, and she longed for some hot food and a bed where she can rest her aching muscles. She hoped that there was at least a decent bed there. She was so tired from her long trip and she desperately needed some good hours of peaceful slumber.

Upon closer inspection, she found that the house had a letterbox and a dog house. The idea of having a dog comforted her a little. That was a good thing - she had to keep thinking positive. Sure, the farm would need a lot of work and she was close to being flat-out broke, but she had confidence she could rebuild this place. The only direction to look to when she hit rock bottom was up, right? She was determined to make this decision the best one she'd made in her life.

When she reached the door, she dug around in her bag for the key. Her travel bag had several compartments and she didn't remember where she'd placed the thing.

"Dammit!" she cursed again a minute later when she still couldn't find it. She couldn't bear to think of what she'd do if she was locked out in this kind of weather. But her thoughts were interrupted by a shout in the distance.

"Excuse me, miss!"

She looked up to an amusing spectacle of a small round man in a bright red suit and tall hat running up the dirt path towards her. She raised her brows when he stopped in front of her and hunched over, panting like he'd run a marathon. She waited patiently for him to catch his breath. And then he asked her a rather odd question.

"Are you by any chance a tourist?"

Would a tourist be digging through her bag for a key to a small house in an abandoned farm?

"No, I came to live here," she said instead. He looked serious. "I'm the new owner of this farm."

She saw his expression change from surprised to confused to worried in a matter of seconds.

"Oh dear, oh dear," he mumbled to himself, hands in his hair. "What a predicament! I never thought…on the same day, too…"

"Is everything alright, mister?" she asked him, wondering what was going on.

"No, actually-" he started, but was abruptly cut off when the door opened behind her.

"Mayor Thomas, did you forget something? Oh, who's this?"

So the small man in the funny suit was her new mayor, huh? Imagine that. But who was the other person? The voice was male. And it came from inside the house – her house. Wasn't it supposed to be locked? She didn't remember anything about live-in farm hands in the ad. Would she have to pay him as well? She immediately sensed that something was off here.

She turned around and took a good look at him. He was young, maybe roughly her age, if not a little older. He had ruffled dark brown hair and a deep set of brown eyes that stared back at her impassively. The loose t-shirt and jeans he was wearing looked a little too light for the weather. Plus he had a thin frame more befitting of a city bloke. Farm hands tended to be more muscular, right? So what was he supposed to be?

They contemplated each other for a couple of seconds – she looked at his state of attire and he looked at her suitcases.

"Are you the caretaker?"

"Are you the delivery girl?"

They asked each other at the same time.

"No, wait, we need to talk about this." the funny man-er-person called Mayor Thomas spoke before either could answer the other. "May we come in?"

It was a little strange for her to have to ask for permission to enter her own house, but she went along with it, remembering to take her luggage inside with her. The guy looked wearily at her them but helped her out all the same.

Five minutes later found them all seated around a small table, a steaming cup of tea and some biscuits laid out in front of them by the farmhand-slash-caretaker. She held her cup in both hands, blissfully absorbing the warmth seeping through to her fingers, and ignored the weird looks she was getting from the guy. The mayor on the other hand looked very worried for some reason.

"Alright, you two, listen very carefully," he told them both, looking as if he'd rather be anywhere but there at the moment. "There has been a very grave mistake here and I assure you that neither of you are to be blamed for this situation, but...miss..."

"Claire," she provided her name, not sure she liked where this was going.

"Miss Claire, this young man is Jack." Jack nodded but sported the same puzzled look as she did. "He arrived here this morning. He came from the city, and the previous owner of the farm...well, he left his whole property to him when he died."

"What?!" she almost choked on her tea. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that the farm and everything in it rightfully belongs to him." He said sadly.

"That's preposterous! You're kidding with me, right?" Claire asked, not daring to believe him.

"What's going on here, Mayor Thomas?" the guy called Jack asked him, thoroughly confused.

"Jack," the mayor sighed, "Miss Claire bought this farm two days ago, and she just arrived from the city to come and live here. I received a call from the realtor when I got home today and they just informed me about it. I came rushing back, and found that she was already here."

"Bought it? But how?" Jack said indignantly, "If the old man left it to me in his will, then why was even it out in the market?"

"That's a mistake on my part." The mayor shook his head sadly. "I was cleaning out his place not many days ago, and I found his will. It was very well hidden, so I never found it all this time before. But with all the festivities and whatnot that I had to organise, I forgot to have this place taken off the market. Besides, anyone who's ever come here to check the place out always leave disappointed. I didn't think anyone would actually buy the whole place without even seeing it first…and that too right before the new year."

Claire gave a small cough at that and had the decency to blush a little. She was tricked by an ad. So what? It wasn't like she had much experience in purchasing land.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" she asked the mayor.

"Well at this point, there's nothing much we can do. Since Jack is here, I'm afraid that the farm now belongs to him. You'll have to go back. I can arrange for the money to be returned to you, of course."

"What?!" she exclaimed for a second time. "But I bought this farm two days ago. And he-" she pointed at Jack "-only arrived today. And since it was on the market when I bought it, it's still technically mine, isn't it? I've even got all the paperwork right here. "

She reached into her bag and pulled out the documents. Thomas picked them up and read through them, scratching his head.

"This is-"

"Irrelevant," said Jack. "If the old man left it to me, then I can't let anyone else have this farm."

"I bought this farm with hard-earned money!" Claire shouted, "You can't just-"

"Thomas! There you are – oh, am I interrupting something?"

A woman with shoulder length black hair and wide eyes came bursting into the small house. She looked around at all of them, thoroughly confused and out of it, but she came to pretty quickly and addressed the Mayor again.

"Oh, Thomas, whatever are you doing here? The festival is going to start in less than an hour and you'd gone missing! I went to check your house but Harris said you rushed out after receiving a phone call. And honestly, when Anna told me she saw you heading to the old farm, I didn't quite think she was serious."

"Well, I-" Thomas started, but she was listening to him.

"You can't just disappear from the preparations like that, you're the MAYOR! Everyone is depending on you! You have to come over to the Square right away, there is still so much to do, and everything is in such a mess!"

"Yes, but-"

"Oh, and dear, dear, dear, who are these two lovely young people here? Are you newlyweds?"

They both blinked owlishly at her. Jack opened his mouth to say something but no words managed to come out.

"You must be the new owners of the farm! It's so nice to meet you, my name is Manna. My husband and I run the winery in town. _Do_ come visit us some time. I'm so happy to know that someone is finally going to start up this farm again. It used to be such a beautiful place and now it's all in tatters. You two will do an excellent job of it, I'm sure. And it's a wonderful place to raise children! Oh, you're going to just love it here in Mineral Town. There's going to be a New Year festival at Rose Square today, at six pm. We'll be going now to finish with the decorations, but please, you're welcome to come and attend. We'll all be making mochi together! Doesn't that sound fun? Well, we have to go now, but see you two later!"

And with that, she dragged a protesting Thomas out of the small house, leaving the other two at a loss for words, trying to wrap their heads around everything that she had said to them. It was quiet for a minute or so.

"She just called us newlyweds…" Jack was the first one to break the silence.

"Yeah, she did…" Claire said slowly, staring at the door. "And she mentioned children."

"Do we even _look_-?" he stopped himself. "Don't answer that."

Claire cleared her throat. "So what do we do? Farm ownership problem's not going to resolve itself. "

"I'm standing firm in this." Jack said, folding his arms and leaning back on his chair. "I'm not giving up the farm."

"Neither am I." She imitated him and leaned back in her chair, studying him closely. "Do you even have experience at working a farm? You don't look much like the open country type to me."

"I could say the same thing about you," he said, giving her a once over. "You look like a city girl through and through."

"Hey, I actually _bought_ the farm so I think it's pretty clear that out of the two of us, I have the higher resolve to see this through."

"Alright, you have the resolve," He sounded tired. "But that's not what this is about. The documents that you have-"

"If you need more convincing then I can get a lawyer."

Jack groaned and rubbed his temple with his fingers. "There's really no need to involve a lawyer. And even if you do, you know I'd win either way."

"Well I refuse to go down without a fight!" Claire got up and slammed her hands on the table so hard that Jack jolted in surprise. "I bet everything I had on this farm! I can't just ignore that!"

"The Mayor said you'd get your money refunded!"

"Yeah, sure, I get the money back! But what about my job and my apartment? I left that life behind when I decided to leave the city. I'm not here to check the farm out, I came to _live_ here." She slumped back down with a sour look on her face.

"You quit your job?" he sounded uneasy at that last bit of info. She didn't bother to reply, just nodded and rested her forehead on the table. She wasn't going to cry, dammit. She didn't notice when Jack got up and was pleasantly surprised when he placed a fresh cup of tea beside her. She thanked him and accepted it gratefully.

"Consider it a peace-offering," he smiled at her. "I don't like this position we're in anymore than you do. But maybe we can figure something out."

"Alright, truce." She sipped her tea. It was really sweet. "I guess we can work something out. But don't take this as a surrender or anything."

"I won't. In the mean time, since the next ferry is due in…"

"Seven days." She supplied drily.

"Right. So that gives us seven days to come up with a solution we're both happy with. You can use that time to check out the town and surrounding areas, assess your options. How does that sound?"

"Sounds alright." That was actually quite reasonable, if you take away the fact that it came from him trying to drive her away somehow.

"Great! We can start tomorrow." Jack clapped his hands together, looking pleased. "Mayor Thomas said there was a really good inn in town. I can help you with your luggage. So anytime you're ready-"

"You want me to stay at an _inn_?" she sputtered. "But-I was planning on staying here!"

"You can't stay here," Jack bit out, "This place only has one bed. And there are no sofas or extra mattresses."

"But I can't afford an inn!"

"Well neither can I!"

There was another brief pause when the two of them almost realised what a very sad and pathetic predicament they were both in.

"The Mayor," Jack supplied after some time, to which Claire nodded immediately and added, "Yeah, he'll know what to do."

They both turned their attention toward the windows just as the first raindrops pattered against the glass. All thoughts of going to town was drowned within the minute as the rainfall quickly escalated into a full out storm complete with all the lightning and thunder works. And then the lights went off.

"_Damn_it!"

XXX

Jack closed the wooden window shutters as soon as he heard a thunderclap. He didn't know how safe the small house was against the elements, but right now anywhere was better than outside. It was rather small inside, and he felt a little claustrophobic with all the windows closed. And then to make matters worse, the power went out and they were enveloped in darkness.

He heard Claire curse out loud as he fumbled around for a lamp, or a candle, or anything that would light the place up. After a minute of searching, he found a box of matches. Claire was using her flash light to assist him but in the end it was the flash light that stood on the table, pointed at the ceiling.

He added candles to his mental shopping list as he sat back down at the table. If this kind of thing was going to be a frequent occurrence, he might as well be prepared for the next round.

"Which way is the kitchen?" Claire asked him while rummaging for something in one of her suitcases.

"Behind you." He didn't bother telling her that the kitchen was just an old counter with a sink, a single gas stove and a tea kettle. Gramps sure lived the simple life here. He wasn't surprised much by anything since he'd already been here before, but man, was this place down to its bare necessities.

"This house is a glorified shack," Claire reflected this exact thoughts as she boiled some water. "I mean, no offense to your grandfather or anything…"

"None taken," he knew what she meant. Hopefully he'd be able to change that in the not too distant future. House extensions were possible, but they cost a lot of money and he'd have to save up for quite a while to be able to afford it.

He followed her movement idly with his eyes, thinking of how he could convince her to leave. He had seven days to do that, thankfully. Maybe if he made her see how challenging it would be to live here… She dropped something and bent down to pick it up, and suddenly he was given a perfect view of her round ass and her thighs. She was wearing a pair of khaki shorts and trainers so most of her legs were uncovered. Her skin looked really soft and delicate especially in the dim light, he wondered how it would feel if he traced his fingers up-

"Hey, are you listening?" she turned around to look at him and he immediately straightened in his chair, flushed, realising where his train of thought had steered off to.

"Yeah-I…what-?" Well that didn't sound weird at all.

"I asked if you wanted some."

"Sure! Of course!" Wanted some what?

She eyed him weirdly before turning back to whatever she was doing before. And he was back to staring at her legs-er-thinking about the future of the farm. In all likelihood he'd only be able to clear out about half of the field. That meant fewer crops…so…animals? There was a chicken coop with plenty of space, and a big barn and wouldn't it be awfully cold in those shorts?

"I was expecting a sunny cruise and pleasant weather here, not a storm."

Did he say that out loud? He quirked a brow when she placed a cup of instant noodles in front of him. So that was what she was making. He looked at her face as she sat back down in front of him; no indication towards hostility, just a little bit of irritation. So she hadn't caught him staring at her legs after all.

"Thanks," he cleared his throat, feeling awkward now. "I uhh…was planning on going to the inn for dinner. Guess that's cancelled now."

"Mmmnn…"

They quietly (on his part anyway– she on the other hand slurped a lot) ate their cup noodles in the dim light. Half an hour later the lights came back on but the storm showed no signs of abating. Claire had taken out a small notebook and was scribbling away on the table while he sat across her reading a book. Neither one of them was willing to start a conversation with the other nor address the elephant in the room. And so they waited.

Another half hour later, with the storm still raging on outside, Jack felt it necessary to voice the problem. He closed his book and looked at her.

"You're not going to be able to get to the inn."

"I wasn't planning to," she answered, not even bothering to look up from her own book. "I'm staying here."

"There's only one bed." She had to at least be concerned about that.

"I don't mind sleeping on a blanket on the floor," she said nonchalantly, and then sneezed twice. "You don't have to worry about your precious bed."

That irritated him for some reason but he let it slide. If she was okay on the floor, then he wasn't going to complain. He got up and started preparing for bed. It was still only around 7 pm but he was tired out from the journey. And besides, it would be good if he started getting used to early mornings. There was just so much to be done.

The house comprised of two rooms – a small bedroom and a living room-slash-kitchen-slash-dining room. There was also a small bathroom attached to the bedroom but the water supply only fed the toilet. That was one more thing he needed to get fixed if he was going to live here from now on.

He discarded his jeans in favour of a pair of warm pyjamas and crawled under the covers. He already told Claire where the extra blankets were kept - after he offered to switch places with her - so he didn't have to bother about her anymore. He felt a little guilty for hogging the bed but hey, she was the one who refused.

Closing his eyes, he was just about drifting off to sleep when he heard the bathroom door close shut. And just as he expected, the door opened again and Claire walked out, a distressed look on her face, and managed to catch his eyes before he was able to feign sleep. Darn…

"There's _no water_ in there!" she pointed towards the bathroom, eyes wide.

He grunted in affirmation.

"Where the hell am I supposed to take a bath?!" a little bit higher and her voice could be termed as hysterical.

"There's a hot spring at the foot of Mother's Hill, south of the farm."

That clearly wasn't the answer she was looking for. But hey, if it keeps her from further pursuing the farm…

"Are you telling me that the only place I can bathe in is up in the _mountain_?! Out in the _open_?!"

That sounded about right. He grunted in affirmation again and closed his eyes, trying to go to sleep. Claire went back into the bathroom and he heard the door lock. A minute later she came back out and he couldn't help but take a peek; she was now wearing a thin night gown that only reached mid-thigh.

He groaned. What the hell was wrong with her?

"You're going to catch a cold dressed like that," he told her as she rummaged the trunk at the base of his bed for extra blankets and right on cue, she sneezed again, twice. "See what I mean?"

Her face turned red and she muttered something about 'dust' and 'allergy'. She left the bedroom with a big patchwork blanket and turned off the lights. Jack went back to his non-sleep, eyes closed, listening. From the sound of it, she decided to sleep in the corner next to the television. Outside, the wind was howling and even with all the shutters closed, there were little drafts coming from all the nooks and crannies all over the house.

Maybe he should offer to switch again? He was sure the blanket wouldn't be enough to keep her warm, especially not with what she was wearing. But she seemed so determined to make it hard for herself so he decided against it and went to sleep.

It was around 1 am when he woke up to the sound of something scratching against the door. A wild animal? Thomas did tell him that wild dogs tend to stray into the farms at night. Slipping out of the bed, he grabbed the first tool he could find from the toolbox (which happened to be a watering can) and cautiously walked bare-foot into the other room. The scratching still hadn't stopped.

Maybe a stray branch got stuck on the door…?

He placed a hand on the door handle and, readying himself for whatever there was to come, wrenched it open. A big gust of wind blew into the room but other than that, he didn't see anything particularly strange. It was completely dark outside. Maybe it really was a broken tree branch. He quickly closed and locked the door again and placed the watering can down.

And that was when he noticed it. Right beside the door, looking up at him with big wet eyes, was a little brown puppy, completely soaked from the rain and shivering pitifully on the floor. Jack didn't know where it came from or whom it belonged to, but he couldn't just let it back outside in the rain so he went and got it one of gramp's old towels. When he dried its fur enough, he wrapped the little creature up with an old faded sweater so that it'd be nice and warm. It licked his hand and yipped happily and was asleep in minutes. He left it under the dining table to sleep in peace.

And that was when he noticed yet another pitiful creature shivering in room. Though even if he were to help out he highly doubted this one would yip happily and lick him in thanks. The blanket that Claire used was sprawled out on the floor and Claire herself was half lying on it and half lying on the cold floor. She was curled up with her arms wrapped tightly around her legs.

Jack knelt down to re-wrap the blanket around her but realised that she was shivering nonstop. That looked like early signs of hypothermia. He couldn't just leave her like that now…

"She's going to throw a fit in the morning," he muttered to himself as he stooped down to pick her up. Her skin was ice-cold. He tried not to stare at her bare legs as her night gown rode upwards.

"Mmmm…" she groaned as she slowly came to. "Whtr-rr y'doinn?"

He shushed her and carried her to the bedroom. His bed was still warm when he deposited her on the soft mattress. She didn't even seem to notice as he tucked her in under the covers. He went to retrieve her discarded blanket and threw it over the other one, then he set out to look for another. Unfortunately he didn't find anything usable that didn't need a thorough dusting.

Sighing, he slipped under the covers beside her. Claire had managed to soak up most of whatever heat was left and she was still shivering violently. He wrapped his arms around her midsection and pulled her flat against him, remembering that the torso should be warmed up first. He hissed as her cold body touched his. It was like cuddling up with a snowman! He tucked her head under his chin and tightened his hold on her, determined to get her warm. He could feel her breasts pressing against his chest. Okay, maybe it wasn't all that bad.

He didn't know how long they stayed like that – it felt like hours – but eventually her shivering subsided. At some point in time Claire clutched onto the front of his shirt like a lifeline. He tried to pry her hands away but she wouldn't budge, not even in her sleep, so he left her like that.

Whatever comes in the morning, he'll deal with it then. And seriously, it was going to be _hell_ to deal with. But this also had some chance of scaring her off so he was content for now. With a small smirk on his face, he hugged her tighter and drifted off to sleep.

XXX

AN: This is the result of a couple of late-night caffeine-induced pre-exam fits of procrastination. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated ^_^

Edit: Got rid of a typo and a minor inconsistency.


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